“Sorry about this Simon.”

“It is fine, anything for you aunt. Or should I say, your majesty?”

Zushi laughed lightly. “I wanted to get changed but I have to do more formal stuff again.”

“Mother! I want to stay with you.”

“Now Braden, don’t tell me you didn’t miss me?”

Braden looked at Simon.

“No.”

Simon’s eyes twitched annoyed.

“I came here for aunt Jorah.”

“I see. I see trying to take my wife now? You’re a brave kid.”

Her gaze softened as she watched the exchange between the two. Simon is her late sister’s son, he is older than Braden. But they get along very well.

“Then Simon, I will leave him to you.”

“Sure, just do your thing. I’ll send him to the palace myself later.”

Zushi recalled the gaze of that woman. Braden should be safe here, but she does not know that person very well yet, so anything can happen.

“Empress.” Simon suddenly addressed her, startling her. “I understand the darkness of the Empire, so you do not have to worry. Please leave your son in my hands.”

Was it showing on her face that much? Then again, she has felt uneasy since making eye contact with that woman.

Her gaze fell on her son. It should be fine, and there has been no formal announcement yet, so nobody should target him.

“Mother?”

“Be a good boy.” Her sentence fell short when he ran to her arms.

“Mother too. I won’t be there, so you can’t cry.”

Her eyes widened when she heard those words from her son’s lips. In the years since her husband disappeared, she often broke down and cried. It seems her son knew of those moments.

…

After she left her son, Zushi kept tugging on her hood. It worried her that somebody would recognize her. She did not have time to change properly, so she still wore her ceremonial clothing underneath her cloak. A deep sigh escaped her lips.

It was harder than she thought getting back to the palace. She insisted that she did not need a carriage and took Braden by foot to Simons. But now, it seems like there will be a bit of a delay before she can head back. There were more people on the streets compared to a few minutes ago.

Her gaze fell on her surroundings—so many more people than before. To rule a country, is this something she can do? Zushi had to admit that she did not think this through properly.

When she overheard her relatives say they would send her son to his father’s place, she felt so terrified for the first time.

Will they take him away from her? Even though he is the only thing left that servers as a reminder of her husband. She can’t allow them to take him away.

Zushi recalled how desperate she was, and coincidentally on that day, she received a letter with the palace seal. Initially, she ignored it, and she wanted nothing to do with the royal family and live a peaceful life with her son until her husband returned.

But one week after she was due to leave the manor, not only did many accidents occur, but she overheard her relatives in the foyer.

….

A few months ago XX Manor

The final preparations should be complete already. She supposes the last thing she has to do is give her greetings to her relatives, she already went around the manor and said her goodbyes to the servants. There were many who she was attached to, so it was harder than she thought to say goodbye.

But maybe she ought to do something about this arm first. Currently, there was blood trickling down her arm. Another accident, she did not sustain much damage since a servant shielded her, but she did not like this.

Zushi could more or less understand what was going on.

Of course, they don’t want her to leave; she has become an asset to them. She knew she ought to skip over the greetings knowing they were not worth it. But at the same time, they raised her for so long.

Those people are not her blood-related family, at least from what the head butler told her after she found an old photograph.

The only blood related to her was the so-called father, supposedly her uncle, her real father’s brother. Since she was far too young then, he took over the household. Supposedly he was supposed to hand things over to her when she came of age, but that did not happen.

She took a deep breath as she was about to knock on the door.

“Are you going to let her leave, father? What if the royal palace finds her?”

“Shush, let me think.”

“That child’s power is convenient; without it, our business would not run as smoothly. Dear, think it through.”

“Perhaps we can negotiate with her.”

“Why do you have to do that, father?” Elisa said. “The only reason she is leaving is because of that kid; why don’t we just get rid of it?” Despite those vague sounding words, Zushi had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, her father- uncle suddenly said. “Disposing of the kid is risky. But we can send it away. Hasn’t that man’s family tried to contact us several times? Why don’t we send the child over.”

Her eyes widened when she heard those words. Wha—what? What are they trying to say there? She felt her body turn cold. Are they- trying to take Braden away from her? Take that child away?

..

Back to the present.

At that time, she could only focus on the fact that they wanted to send Braden away from her. When she finally calmed down, she realized what they said.

It was a stretch, and yet she had no choice. She escaped to her husband’s family. It surprised her when they welcomed her, and it was the first time she visited them.

He disappeared before the final meeting, and yet they let her in. She could be a random woman claiming she has their son’s child, yet they let her in.

Or rather, she could not forget the warmth of the past few months; they sheltered her for the last four months while she worked on her Empress lessons. To the very last day, they did not want her to go.

Zushi thought, ah, now she understood why that person treated her with such kindness.

Her thoughts broke off when she suddenly lost her balance, and somebody had shoved her aside. Ah–? She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, but nothing happened.

Zushi slowly opened her eyes and saw that somebody caught her. A man with half silver and half black hair, but he wore a bandage across his eyes. Zushi was about to thank him when she saw a familiar emblem on his cloak.

The ageha family mark? Is he a family member? No—the emblem is slightly different.

“Thank you.” Zushi managed to say.

The man nodded. “Apologies, but have you seen a young girl wearing a red cape similar to mine around?”

“A young girl?” Zushi repeated.

“Yes.”

This man is a knight for the Ageha family, and he is searching for a young girl. It did not take Zushi long to realize. “The fourteenth daughter from the Ageha family?”

The aura around the man suddenly turned hostile, and Zushi slightly lifted her hood.

“It’s me.” She said quietly. If her hunch is correct, this must be one of the guards she saw with that woman earlier in the formal ceremony.

“Emp—”He paused mid-sentence realizing something. “I apologize.”

“So am I right?”

“Yes, the young miss wanted to see her sister, so she came along. But at some point, she rushed off.” He looked away, almost like he was ashamed of this. For a member of the Ageha family, is he not well behaved?

“I will help.”

This is her chance to establish a connection.

______

Aunt Zushi only left an hour ago, and yet Simon looked up at the large tree they had behind their shops. There at the very top, was his younger cousin Braden.

How on earth does he deal with this kid? Quite some time has passed since he last saw his cousin and his aunt.

He did not think it was right for him to visit them when they lived in that person’s place. After his mother’s death, he moved out of that house and only visited the first few years before they barricaded him from coming in.

Simon kept his communication to letters, and even then, it took a while for him to receive a reply. He could tell they tampered with aunts’ letter, and it was difficult to meet too.

He had a lot going on after his mother died. He knew he had no place in the family with his half noble blood. Indeed a mere ten days after her death, they were already slowly depriving him of his privileges.

“Hey,” Simon called out.

“I won’t come down!”

“You can stay there.” Once his wife comes home, the kid will come down on its own. “Was it nice living there?” When he heard how the two left or rather escaped the manor, it reminded him of how he left too.

He had to leave before anybody woke up, and even then, he saw aunt Zushi at the gate with a basket of food.

“I wanted to help,” Simon muttered. After all, he knew his aunt must have taken the blame after they discovered he left.

His thoughts broke off when the kid suddenly appeared in front of his face. Simons’s eyes widened. Wait, that was way too fast? How on earth did he get down so quickly.

“Wh—”

“Stupid!” Braden exclaimed.

Huh? What? Simon was still stunned that he got down so quickly. But before he could even react, the young boy darted out of the back gate. After a few seconds, Simon got to his feet too. But Braden was already a distance away. This kid is very fast and has good reflexes.

Is that inherited? Simon did not know his aunt’s husband very well, but it turned out that he was from a very prominent family.

Out of all the groups from one of the seven ruling families, fortunately, it was the yellows. They were the only ones who remained uncorrupted.

It would be dreadful if he lost Braden; how would he face his aunt?

“Braden- Oi, wait!” Simon yelled.

“No! Cousin, your stupid.”

His eyes twitched, annoyed at those words. Since earlier, what is with this child insulting him every single time?

Then again, quite some time has passed since they last saw each other. Back when he was younger, was he rebellious like this too?

Simon shook his head. He has to quickly catch that kid. Aunt Zushi tried to hide it from him, but Simon sensed there was something wrong.

It was a first for him to see his aunt that frightened. Then again, she has become the Empress now. It seems like, to a certain extent, she is aware of the dangers brought by that position.

He did not realize when Braden had left his sight. They were already far away from the shop, and thus Simon found it hard to navigate. There are far too many people here today.

Many people who did not belong in this Empire. Are they that curious about the new Empress? Sure a decade has gone by since the last one. But Simon found that this situation is odd.

So many people are here. If anything happens to the New Empress, it will be difficult to pinpoint the culprit. Could it be this is what they are aiming for?

If so, then this situation will be bad. His thoughts broke off when an orange rolled by his feet. Simon picked it up and turned to the direction where it came from.

A familiar woman was carrying a basket. It was his wife, and it seemed she hadn’t noticed him yet since she focused on shopping.

He took a few steps forward before he slipped it onto her basket, causing her to look over.

Her eyes brightened. “Simon?” He watched his wife look around him, and his face color paled.

If Jorah finds out he lost Braden, won’t he die?